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Thoughts Leading up to the Women's Conference
This week, the upcoming women’s conference was formally announced at member’s night. I sat in amusement as I saw ladies shift in their seats and turn to their friends with puzzled and excited looks. You see, it has been just over four years since our last conference. I remember sitting through the talks being constantly distracted by contractions as my full term baby boy was three days away from making his debut into the world. This conference has been a long time coming. There have been rumblings and talk of a ministry. There has been waiting. More importantly, there has been prayer – I’m not talking about my own, but…
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I thought Tornadoes were for Kansas?
Saturday a huge tornado swept through Downtown Raleigh and South East Raleigh. While our friends were hiding in closets and basements, we stupidly were standing at our windows amazed by the blowing trees and looking for cues that it was time to hide. Our neighborhood was missed by about five blocks. Power went out almost immediately and came back on in the middle of the night the next evening. Scooby had only one thing on his mind: light. Can we light the fires? Where is your flashlight? Can I hold it? Where is Daddy’s flashlight? Can I hold it? Do you want to trade flashlights? I thought he’d be excited…
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Finding Your Calling
Earlier this week I wrote a blog post, deleted it, and then sent it to the women in my Community Group. It is embarrassing when you ask the same questions for years on end only to stay just as confused. This pursuit of finding our “calling” as it relates to the local church and God’s work at large can seem impossible to nail down as our lives and circumstances are constantly in flux. As an undergrad I had a very different idea of what serving God looked like than I do now as a mother of two children with a part-time job. Back in high school, my youth pastor Phil…
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A Seat at the Table
This morning, our good friend Thom preached on being the adopted and sons and daughters of God. The part of his talk that really grabbed me was his discussion on how we write ourselves off as undeserving, unwanted or less than at His table. Several weeks back, I was dining at Magiano’s with a group of women to celebrate my friend’s birthday. There were sixteen of us laughing and talking as if we were the oldest of friends, and amazingly enough we managed to all agree on two appetizers, salads and main courses to share family style. Six months prior, I would have felt completely inferior and too socially inadequate…
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From Busyness to Malice – Separating from Community
In the song “By Thy Mercy”, J.J. Cummins writes: From the depth of nature’s blindness, From the hardening power of sin, From all malice and unkindness, From the pride that lurks within: By Thy mercy, O deliver us, good Lord, good Lord. Last night, I was on my way to deliver some tomato plants to a friend, who was volunteering at church, and was debating sticking around for the service. I was in preggers’ sweats and still a little dirty from the garden. Joe was at home working on something else for church while he waited for Scooby to wake up from his nap. As I handed over the tomatoes,…
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Engineered, but not Reversed
Our church does this yearly practice in early January called “Reverse Engineering”. Individuals and families are asked to prayerfully assess nearly all aspects of their lives: priorities, habits and patterns, relationships, finances, daily schedules, vacations, emotional and physical health, spiritual development, family life, etc to make the most of the time and resources they have available. The idea is to look at where you see God directing your life – 1,2,5 and 40 years into the future – and begin to structure your life to healthily make the most efficient use of these resources so that you are best equipped to fulfill that calling. Joe is a list maker and…
